Current Issue : October-December Volume : 2024 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
The solar energy market is predicted to be shared between Si solar cells and third-generation photovoltaics in the future. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) show the greatest potential to capture a share there as a single junction or in tandem with silicon. Researchers worldwide are looking to optimize the composition of the perovskite film to achieve an optimal bandgap, performance, and stability. Traditional perovskites have a mixture of formamidinium and methyl ammonium as the A-site cation in their ABX3 structure. However, in recent times, the use of cesium and rubidium has become popular for making highly efficient PSCs. A thorough analysis of the performance and stability of double-, triple-, and quadruple-cation PSCs under different environmental conditions was performed in this study. The performance of the device and the films was analyzed by electrical measurements (J–V, dark J–V, EQE), scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence, and X-ray diffraction. The quadruple-cation device with the formula Cs0.07Rb0.03FA0.77MA0.13PbI2.8Br0.2 showed the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.7%. However, this device had the least stability under all conditions. The triple-cation device with the formula Cs0.1FA0.6MA0.3PbI2.8Br0.2, with a slightly lower PCE (21.2%), was considerably more stable, resulting in about 30% more energy harvested than that using the other two devices during their life cycle....
Thin polysilicon (poly-Si)-based passivating contacts can reduce parasitic absorption and the cost of n-TOPCon solar cells. Herein, n+-poly-Si layers with thicknesses of 30~100 nm were fabricated by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) to create passivating contacts. We investigated the effect of n+-poly-Si layer thickness on the microstructure of the metallization contact formation, passivation, and electronic performance of n-TOPCon solar cells. The thickness of the poly-Si layer significantly affected the passivation of metallization-induced recombination under the metal contact (J0,metal) and the contact resistivity (ρc) of the cells. However, it had a minimal impact on the short-circuit current density (Jsc), which was primarily associated with corroded silver (Ag) at depths of the n+-poly-Si layer exceeding 40 nm. We introduced a thin n+-poly-Si layer with a thickness of 70 nm and a surface concentration of 5 × 1020 atoms/cm3. This layer can meet the requirements for low J0,metal and ρc values, leading to an increase in conversion efficiency of 25.65%. This optimized process of depositing a phosphorus-doped poly-Si layer can be commercially applied in photovoltaics to reduce processing times and lower costs....
This study examined the impact of temperature optimization on indium tin oxide (ITO) films in monolithic HJT/perovskite tandem solar cells. ITO films were deposited using magnetron sputtering at temperatures ranging from room temperature (25 ◦C) to 250 ◦C. The sputtering target was ITO, with a mass ratio of In2O3 to SnO2 of 90% to 10%. The effects of temperature on the ITO film were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), spectroscopic ellipsometry, and sheet resistance measurements. Results showed that all ITO films exhibited a polycrystalline morphology, with diffraction peaks corresponding to planes (211), (222), (400), (440), and (622), indicating a cubic bixbyite crystal structure. The light transmittance exceeded 80%, and the sheet resistance was 75.1 Ω/sq for ITO deposited at 200 ◦C. The optical bandgap of deposited ITO films ranged between 3.90 eV and 3.93 eV. Structural and morphological characterization of the perovskite solar cell was performed using XRD and FE-SEM. Tandem solar cell performance was evaluated by analyzing current density-voltage characteristics under simulated sunlight. By optimizing the ITO deposition temperature, the tandem cell achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.74%, resulting in enhanced tandem cell efficiency....
Organic solar cells (OSCs) are one of the most promising photovoltaic technologies due to their affordability and adaptability. However, upscaling is a critical issue that hinders the commercialization of OSCs. A significant challenge is the lack of cost-effective and facile techniques to modulate the morphology of the active layers. The slow solvent evaporation leads to an unfavorable phase separation, thus resulting in a low power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar modules. Here, a nitrogen-blowing assisted method is developed to fabricate a large-area organic solar module (active area = 12 cm2) utilizing high-boiling-point solvents, achieving a PCE of 15.6%. The device fabricated with a high-boiling-point solvent produces a more uniform and smoother large-area film, and the assistance of nitrogen-blowing accelerates solvent evaporation, resulting in an optimized morphology with proper phase separation and finer aggregates. Moreover, the device fabricated by the nitrogen-blowing assisted method exhibits improved exciton dissociation, balanced carrier mobility, and reduced charge recombination. This work proposes a universal and cost-effective technique for the fabrication of high-efficiency organic solar modules....
A significant deployment limitation for visible light communication and positioning (VLCP) systems in energy- and light-source-restricted scenarios is the reliance of photodetectors (PDs) on external power supplies, compromising sustainability and complicating receiver charging. Solar cells (SCs), capable of harvesting and converting environmental light into electrical energy, offer a promising alternative. Consequently, we first propose an indoor VLCP system that utilizes an SC array as the receiver, alongside a right-angled tetrahedron trilateration visible light positioning (RATT-VLP) algorithm based on a single light source and multiple receivers. The proposed system uses an SC array in place of PDs, utilizing binary phase shift keying (BPSK) signals for simultaneous communication and positioning. In experiments, we verified the system’s error-free communication rate of 1.21 kbps and average positioning error of 3.40 cm in a 30 cm × 30 cm area, indicating that the system can simultaneously satisfy low-speed communication and accurate positioning applications. This provides a viable foundation for further research on SC-based VLCP systems, facilitating potential applications in environments like underwater wireless communication, positioning, and storage tank inspection....
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